July 21, 2005
TOKYO, JAPAN-WBC #10 ranked OPBF welter champ Kazuhiko Hidaka (22-4, 16 KOs), 146.5, successfully kept his regional belt as he recklessly forced OPBF top ranked Filipino champ Dondon Sultan (11-5-2, 5 KOs), 145.5, to the ropes time and again, and finally dropped him with a roundhouse southpaw left to halt him at 1:07 of the seventh round on Thursday in Tokyo, Japan. Hidaka, making his first defense since dethroning Filipino Rev Santillan via fourth round stoppage last March, was so aggressive from the outset that he was in command almost all the way. The Japanese southpaw overpowered the shorter challenger with a barrage of punches, pinning him to the ropes in the fatal seventh. Hidaka followed it up with a furious assault to floor him with a wicked left, which prompted the Australian referee Malcolm Bulner to intervene. Hidaka will be obliged to meet ex-champ Santillan due to the option agreement within this year. Scored after the sixth: scoring-ref Bulner, Salven Lagumbay (Philippines) and Nobuaki Uratani (Japan), all identically 59-55 for the defending champ.
Japanese #3 ranked 130-pounder Keita Manabe (21-2-1, 18 KOs), 132.25, earned a unanimous nod (97-94, 98-94 and 99-91) over durable and gutsy southpaw Jaguar Tetsuya (15-4-1, 8 KOs), 132, over ten.
Promoter: Shin Nihon Kimura Promotions.
Matchmaker: Joe Koizumi (as for the Hidaka-Sultan title bout).
(7-21-05)